Oak Street 


UNCLASSIFIED BULLETIN 


| | 1 OF THE 


American School of Home Economics 


PUBLISHED QUARTERLY AND ENTERED AT CHICAGO AS SECOND. 
CLASS MATTER UNDER ACT OF CONGRESS OF JULY 16, 1894 


SERIES I JUNE, 1915 No. 39 


HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT IN THE HOME 


By MRS. CHRISTINE FREDERICK 


CONSULTING EDITOR LADIES HOME JOURNAL, ETC, 


A NEW CORRESPONDENCE COURSE 


CHICAGO 


| 506 WEST SIXTY-NINTH STREET 
ILLINOIS 


AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS 
CHICAGO 


Dear Friend:— 
"The fascination cf the new housekeeping"! 


That is how you will speak of the everyday humdrum tasks of 
the home after you get into our new Course HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING, 
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT IN THE HOME. 


We might have called the course "Easier and Quicker Ways 
in Housekeeping", only it is so very much more. It shows the 
underlying principles of efficient work as well as the details 
of better practice. This makes it just as helpful in the farm 
home and city appartment as in the town house——just as valuable 
to experienced housekeepers as to beginners——just as useful 
to maid as to mistress. 


Read the Introduction in the followiug pages and you will 
see that this new "scientific management" and "efficiency 
engineering" is really nothing very perplexing or difficult. 
But the results of its application in all industries have been 
truly marvelous. 


This Course applied to your own housekeeping will actually 
produce results just as unbelievable. You will easily save a 
third or more of “the time spent in your housekeeping. The housc-— 
work will go more smoothly with less effort. It will be done 
better with a considerable saving of expense. All this we 
guarantee. The satisfaction of achievement will add to your ~ 
enjoyment of the extra two or three hours daily to "yourself". 


Even more important, the course gives to housekeeping fresh, 
live interest--changes indifference to enthusiasm——-brings about 
the splendid efficiency attitude of mind that masters all 
difficulties. It is an inspirati6én to beginners, the way out 
for the discouraged and the next step forward for experienced 
housekeepers. 


"Household Engineering" is divided into twelve (12) Parts 
or lessons——attractive green covered lesson books of from 40 to 
60 pages, very liberally illustrated. In the back of each you 
will find about five questions to be answered on the Report 
Blank furnished. These reports will be read by Mrs. Frederick 
or her assistants, graded, all questions answered, and returned. 
The Course can easily be finished in one year but longer will be 
allowed for answering the questions if desired. The lesson 
books will be sent once a month for twelve (12) months even tho 
you do not answer the questions——a wonderfully interesting 
contigued story on the NEW ART OF SCIENTIFIC HOUSEKEEPING, 


If you are at all interested in housekeeping, or if you 
wish to make progress in your life work, or if you would like 
help in your problems you should enroll NOW for this course. 
The tuition fee is $18.00 but we offer for this month ONLY, 
one-third rate tuition or only %G6.00 in full payment-——a little 
more by the month. ‘ 


All who doubt the value of the Course to them may enroll 
FREE OF CHARGE as "SPECIALS"-——-pay nothing till the Course has 
more than earned its cost. 


I have put in this last offer because so mary housekeepers 
do not believe that their system, worked out from years of 
experience, can be improved much-—-certainly not a third of their 
time saved! If you think that, I particularly want you to enroll 
as a "special". Let the Course prove itself—-not a cent to pay 
if it does not. You promise nothing. You are under no 
obligations. There is no "string" attached. 


This offer is limited however, so send the coupon TODAY. 
Join;,.us in this movement to “emancipate the home from drudgery." 
Be a progressive. 


Sincerely yours, 


: per 


Director 


——_— = = “88 =O = St es = = TF st St 


-. ONE-THIRD RATE COUPON—VOID MARCH 31, 1916 


AMERICAN SCHOOL OF7HOME ECONOMICS Date 
506 West 69th St.,|Chicago, Ill. 


Please* enroll me for your new course HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEMENT IN THE HOME in twelve (12), parts; Part I to be sent by return mail and the 
remaining Parts, one per month. Correspondence instruction, diploma and membership privileges—i. e. use 
of Circulating Library, Purchasing Department, Bureau of Information, Club Study Department, etc. to be 
included for three years. 


natal 


I enclose $6.00 in full payment. (OR) I enclose 50 cents (stamps) and will pay $1.00 per month 
till $6.50 in all is paid. (OR) Enroll me as a “‘SPECIAL” with nothing to pay until 1am convinced of 
the value of the course to me; then I will pay $6.50 cash (or) $7.00 in monthly payments, otherwise I will 
return lesson books received. 


It is understood that if | am not satisfied with the course when I have read all the Parts that a'] money 
paid will be returned upon request. 


SIGNED 


Mrs. or Miss 


ADDRESS 


Kindly give names of acquaintances who may be interested in this Course—your name not to be 
mentioned. In return we will send you our Bulletin ‘““Free Hand Cooking,’” or ‘‘Food Values,’” or ‘‘Five 


Cents Meals,"” or “*The Up-'l'o-Date Home, Money ana Labor Saving Appliances." WHICH? 


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HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


A PERSONAL INTRODUCTION 


EVERAL years ago I faced the problem which con- 
S fronts many young mothers—how to do my housework 

and care for two small children, and yet have any time 
for myself or outside interests. 

I had managed my mother’s home at different periods — 
and really liked housework, especially cooking. But now it 
was a daily struggle to “get ahead” of household drudgery. 
Try as I would, there seemed so many tasks to do, so many 
steps to take, and so many matters needing my attention 
and supervision. Just as I felt I had reduced the cleaning 
to its lowest terms, I found the cooking or the laundry 
work or the mending claiming the remainder of my time. 
It was a continuous conflict to do justice to all the house- 
work tasks, and yet find enough time for the children. 
And between it all, I knew I was not doing justice to 
myself, and that I was becoming more and more tired out. 
Indeed, I was often without much energy to “dress up” in 
the evening, and when my husband came home, I was 
generally too spiritless to enjoy listening to his story of the 
day’s work. | 

Things were dragging on in this unsatisfactory way and 
I was becoming more and more discouraged with what 
seemed my lack of ability to manage my household prob- 
lem. Occasionally I was so depressed as to wish that I 
were not married and that I was back in my teaching 
“harness” where I did have a grip on things! 

Just about this time my husband’s work brought him in 


7 


8 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


touch with the new movement called “scientific manage- 
ment,” and he.came home with glowing accounts of what 
it was accomplishing in the various shops, offices and fac- 
tories where it was being followed. In fact, he and his 
friends (some of whom were pioneers in the movement) 
talked nothing but this new “efficiency idea.” Because I 
had an intuition that perhaps in this new idea was the life- 
preserver for which I had been so earnestly searching in 
my own problem, I listened eagerly to their discussion. 


PURPOSE OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 


I found that the purpose of scientific management was 
to save time and effort and to make things run more 
smoothly. Its object was to short-cut and reduce work to 
such a system that the shop or office or any business would 
be managed with less effort, less waste, and even at a 
lower cost. It seemed to me that this was exactly what 
my aim was in my own home, only I had all this time 
been helpless to carry it out! That was just what I too 
wanted—some plan or general guiding principles that would 
make my housework easier, more successful and less 
expensive. If this wonderful new “scientific management” 
brings about such result in other businesses, why couldn’t 
it do the same in my business of home-making? 

So I decided to learn all about it and understand it, and 
I went for help to my husband and his friends who were 
applying the new idea every day. 

“Tf this new efficiency idea is all you claim,” I said to 
them, “and can be followed in work as widely different as 
iron foundries and shoe factories, I don’t see why it can’t 
be applied to housework as well. You men have made me 
so interested in it that I want to try it in my own home. 
But first I want you ‘efficiency engineers,’ as you call 
yourselves, to explain the idea to me in detail—the why and, 


INTRODUCTION 9 


the how and every point so that I will be sure that I 
thoroughly understand it before I attempt to put it into 
practice. Will you?” 


PRINCIPLES OF EFFICIENCY ENGINEERING 


So my husband and other efficiency engineers made it 
clear to me, and I found that scientific management was 
nothing difficult or expensive or mysterious, but that it 
was a plan, or guiding set of twelve principles, as follows: 


1. Ideals. 7. Despatching. 

2. Common Sense. 8. Scheduling. 

3. Competent Counsel. g. Reliable Records. 
4. Standardized Operations. 10. Discipline. 

5. Standardized Conditions. 11. Fair Deal. 

6. Standard Practice. 12. Efficiency Reward. 


“There is this first principle of Ideals,” they explained. 
“When we go into a factory and try to improve the work, 
the first thing we ask the owner about his business is, 
What are you running it for? The reason so many people 
are not making a success of their business is because they 
do not know why they are running it. Yet ideals are the 
most important thing to have in any work. They are that 
‘something’ that controls and guides the whole plan, a kind 
of chart they are trying to follow. You must know where 
you want to go before trying to get there. 

“Many women do have a strong ideal in their home- 
making. It frequently is health or the education of their 
children, or sometimes only a spotless house. Think of the 
strong ideals that the mother of Charles Wesley and his 
brother must have had for their education to buoy her up 
in all those years of poverty! The ideal can be so strong 
as to look beyond present difficulties and discouragements 
and make work a success in spite of apparently handicap- 


10 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


ping conditions. The clearer a homemakers’ ideals, the 
more bound her work is to succeed. Homemakers, like 
other managers, must know what they are striving for. 


COMMON SENSE 


“Then there is this next principle—Common Sense, which 
is sometimes only a homely term to cover some of the 
other principles. It is common sense to be sure your tools 
are sharp and in good condition before you start work— 
and it’s efficiency as well. Competent Counsel means expert 
advice. We efficiency engineers are one kind of competent 
counsel because our past experience and practice makes us 
‘competent’ to come into a new factory and suggest better 
methods and plans. Other ‘counsel’ is found in books, and 
the written experiences of what has been found out in this 
or that field. Even the most successful business men profit 
by the ‘counsel’ of specialists and their recorded experi- 
ences in solving problems in other lines. Many firms employ 
such paid counsel to visit their branch offices, instruct their 
salesmen, help their dealers, or in some way keep the 
workmen on the right track.” 

The efficiency engineers continued their explanation while 
I listened attentively. 


STANDARD OPERATIONS 


“Standardized operations, etc., sounds formidable, but 
you will see clearly what the next three points mean. For 
instance, when we go into a factory, we watch the men at 
work, we see what motions and tools they use; then, after 
repeated experiments and time studies, we try to give them 
standardized or definite conditions of work, and show them 
methods or standardized operations. This means working 
at the right height, with the right tools, under the best con- 
ditions of light, ventilation and comfort, with the least 


INTRODUCTION Tr 


possible waste of energy and time. When we have found 
out this best and shortest,—or ‘standardized’—way, we 
write it down, and these instructions of just how to do a 
given task are called ‘standard practice. Then all the 
workmen need to do is to follow these instructions and they 
get the best results.” 


DESPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 


“The next two points of Despatching and Scheduling are 
very important,” they continued. “You see, when we have 
determined the one best or standard way to do any task, 
we are not quite finished. We have to go still further and 
find the best order of work, or when to do it, as well as 
how to do it. 

“Despatching means planning, and Scheduling means the 
carrying out of that plan. You know how they despatch 
trains on schedule time. Suppose a train leaves Chicago at 
8 p. M. and arrives at St. Louis at 7 a.m. The despatching 
consists in running the train so that it reaches all the inter- 
vening stations—Peoria, Springfield, etc——at a specified 
time. The schedule is the 11 hours it takes to make the trip. 
Work in a factory is despatched in much the same way. 
The raw material enters one room and then another and so 
on; or the workmen take up first one task and then another 
after it has been laid out in definite order by the foreman. 
This means saved time, and orderly, unconfused work. 

“There is a great deal to be explained about Immediate, 
Accurate and Reliable Records. It includes ways of keep- 
ing information, bills, receipts, addresses, etc., so that no 
time is wasted looking for a piece of information when 
needed. 

“The last three points—Discipline, Fair Deal and Eff- 
ciency Reward—taken together, refer to the benefits that 
scientific management brings to the worker himself, It 


12 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


isn’t enough to make work shorter and easier and less 
wasteful—it must mean more happiness and even more 
money to those who work. In shops where scientific man- 
agement is in force, there have been few strikes and 
troubles. Applied to the home, it would refer of course to 
the hired worker or servant. If a mistress applied the 
principles of Fair Play, for instance, to her help, they 
wouldn't leave her in a crisis, perhaps, as they do now. 
And if she used the principle of Efficiency Reward, she 
might secure from them that something over and above 
mere work—that “service plus’”—which makes any employee 
really valuable.” 


THESE PRINCIPLES IN OPERATION 


After I had grasped this brief explanation of scientific 
management, I visited factories and places where I could 
see the principles in actual operation, so as to make it even 
more clear in my mind. 

I saw the marvelous improvement this efficiency idea had 
brought in the commonplace task of laying bricks, which 
had been done up till then in the same way since the time 
of the Pharaohs. In all history, bricks had been dumped 
in a mixed pile at the workmen’s feet.. Then he had to 
stoop his entire weight, 150 pounds say, each time to pick 
up a 4-pound brick before he set it in place. Think 
of the thousands of times a day he did this useless stooping! 
Now, when the efficiency engineers watched bricklayers at 
work, they saw how many waste motions and time were 
lost in this senseless stooping ; so they devised a little adjust- 
able table, which brought the bricks in an orderly pile to 
the worker’s side, and because he didn’t need to stoop at 
all, or even take time to sort the bricks, he now laid 350 
bricks an hour where before he could lay only 120, besides 
working with far less fatigue and effort. 


INTRODUCTION 13 


Then I was surprised to see how “common sense” and 
“standardized conditions” had been applied in a cash regis- 
ter factory. It had been the habit of the workmen to go 
every morning for their special tools to lockers at the end 
of a very long floor, and to return the tools there in the 
evening. When “competent counsel” efficiency men studied 
this factory, they immediately noticed this twice-a-day 
double walk across the floor, with resulting confusion, loss 
of time, and talking. This waste of time and steps was 
avoided later by having the benches of each worker fitted 
with small drawers and cross-strips to accommodate each 
man’s tools. Then the moment a man came to his bench, he 
could start work, and at night work until the whistle blew, 
which meant more work and less unnecessary wasted time. 

I visited another instance of scientific management in the 
shop of a chemist who had a force of girls packing pills 
into boxes. Formerly they counted out a hundred pills by 
hand, at the rate of one box a minute. But by installing a 
simple little device which automatically counted a hundred 
pills and pushed them off in a little shovel into boxes fed 
to them on a belt underneath, each girl was now able to 
fill twenty boxes a minute with no more labor. 

Again, I saw a workman in an envelope factory who 
had been considered the best in the shop because he could 
turn out the largest number of.envelopes per hour. But 
when the efficiency engineers observed him, they found 
that he took four cuts to each paper, thus making a great 
deal of waste and expense. By finding a new way to cut 
envelopes with only three cuts, the efficiency engineers saved 
tons of paper and thousands of dollars for the firm each 
year. And I will never forget the increased efficiency which 
resulted in one foundry by the most simple little change. 
Formerly the workers used small shovels which meant very 
frequent stooping to dispose of a given pile of coal. But 


14 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


by studying to see just what weight and shape of larger 
shovel a man could handle most easily, and yet carry the 
largest load, the same number of workers were able with 
the new large shovel to move the same load of coal in one- 
third the time! And all because scientific management had 
studied a shovel! 


ScIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT IN THE HOME 


In every instance I saw how these efficiency principles 
were saving time, and effort, and money, wherever applied. 
The more I saw and read, the more certain I felt that they 
could save time and effort and money in my business—the 
home. There was the point of height—didn’t I with hun- 
dreds of women stoop unnecessarily over kitchen tables and 
sinks and ironing boards as well as bricklayers stoop over 
bricks? Couldn’t we perhaps standardize dishwashing by 
raising the height of the sink and changing other conditions ? 
Did we not waste time and needless walking in poorly 
arranged kitchens—taking twenty steps to get the egg-beater 
when it could have been hung over my table, just as effi- 
ciency insisted the workman’s tools must be grouped? 
Couldn’t my housework train be despatched from station 
to station, from task to task, and I too work on a “schedule,” 
or definite plan, so that I wouldn't lose time in thinking what 
to do next or in useless interruptions ? 

I came to earnestly believe that scientific management 
could, and must, solve housework problems as it had already 
solved other work problems. I began to see where I had 
been losing time—where I had been taking waste motions 
and useless steps—where I could use different tools and 
methods. Formerly I had been doing my work in a dead, 
mechanical way, but now every little task was a new and 
interesting problem. I found that housework was just as 
interesting and more so than many other tasks of business. 


INTRODUCTION 15 


Every day I tried to find new ways, new methods and new 
short cuts in my home problems. If I made out a good 
schedule of work for one week I tried to improve on it for 
the week following. No housework detail was too small or 
too unimportant. I constantly kept in mind that “shovel” 
which had cut down the drudgery of coal heaving by one- 
third! I found that I, too, was actually doing my work 
in almost one-third Icss time, without any extra physical, 
and with far less nervous effort. I found that I could 
“despatch” my work, that I could “standardize” it to a 
great extent, and so have that longed-for “time to myself” 
some part of the day. 


THE EFFICIENCY ATTITUDE OF MIND 


But by far the best result of all that came was the con- 
fident “efficiency attitude” of mind which I developed. No 
matter how hard things were—and they did not grow per- 
fect all at once—I had that inward feeling that they would, 
and should, come right in the end. I felt that in spite of 
any difficulty or trying conditions, that I could master my 
house problems—that there were solutions, and that there 
was no such word as “fail” in the whole language of scien- 
tific management. I cannot express how much poise and 
determination came from this efficiency attitude,—the atti- 
tude of being superior to conditions, of having faith in 
myself and in my work, to feel that it was drudgery or 
degrading only if I allowed myself to think so. I felt I was 
working hand in hand with the efficiency engineers in busi- 
ness, and that what they were accomplishing in industry, I 
too was accomplishing in the home. 

I kept on studying, visiting plants and factories, and get- 
ting in touch more widely with the movement. Besides 
studying myself, I got friends to watch themselves at work 
and tell me the results. I began to test equipment and 


16 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


household apparatus in my own home so that I could tell 
other women what I found out. I remodeled my own 
kitchen and then the kitchens of friends. Before I knew 
it, I became a “household engineer,’ and was called in as 
“competent counsel’ by other homemakers! 

I was so enthusiastic over the results of my experiments 
that I wrote four articles called “The New Housekeeping” 
which appeared in The Ladies’ Home Journal of 1912. The 
interest from them was so great that I later brought out 
the same material in book form. Since then the application 
of efficiency principles and scientific management to the 
home has been more widespread than I ever dared hope or 
believe. 

I have had literally thousands of correspondents among 
all kinds of homemakers. In one month only over 1,600 
women wrote me for information. Sometimes I am able 
to help them with suggestions for a better kitchen arrange- 
ment. In many cases I lay out “schedules” of work. Again, 
I tell them about the new tools which are tested every 
month in my own home, Applecroft Experiment Station. 

Not only have I been able to help these thousands of 
correspondents, but they have helped me with many sug- 
gestions and especially to understand more fully the prob- 
lems that come to homemakers in all sections. Perhaps it 
is the cost of living, or the struggle with young children, or 
the lack of conveniences, or again, the feeling that house- 
work is drudgery. I have tried to be a “competent coun- 
sel,’ a “household engineer” to all of them, and do fcr 
them what I so greatly wished someone could have done for 
me in my former housework struggles. 


HouSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


This course in “Household Engineering” includes in 
greater detail everything given in my book, “The New 


INTRODUCTION 17 


Housekeeping,” and all the help and suggestions gathered 
from constant study during the five years which have 
elapsed since its publication. 

My correspondence has given me an exceptionally wide 
viewpoint; and in this course I have tried to present the 
whole subject of the application of scientific management 
to the home in such a way that any homemaker, no matter 
where she lives or what her home conditions, can under- 
stand and apply it to the solution of her own problems. 

I want you who take this course to feel that you, are not 
working alone in your own home kitchen. I want you to 
feel that when you discover new methods of housework and 
better ways of management that you can receive the same 
recognition that a scientist or business investigator receives. 
Do not think you are working out the problem for your own 
home only. .You are helping solve the problems of count- 
less other women and homes, and what you do will be passed 
on, and help build up a great mass of proved knowledge on 
housekeeping. Is not housework as worth while studying 
as the shoveling of coal? Is not housekeeping the biggest, 
the most essential industry of all? 

I am confident that some of you who take this course 
have already been successfully meeting difficult conditions. 
You need only a little more assistance and the presentation 
of this new viewpoint to become a household engineer your- 
self. All my efforts would be useless if you did not co- 
operate with me to carry out scientific management in your 
own home. I want your help and interest in making this 
course a mighty success. You are going to be one of a 
great band of women investigators, working toward the 
splendid aim of putting housework on a _ standardized, 
professional basis. 


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THE LABOR-SAVING KITCHEN 21 


GROUPING OF LARGE EQUIPMENT 


When we study the steps entailed in food preparation, 
we find that work in the kitchen does not consist of inde- 
pendent, separate acts, but of a series of inter-related proc- 
esses. No matter whether we are serving a six-course 
formal luncheon, or a simple family breakfast, each act in 
food preparation is part of a distinct process. There are 
just two of these processes: (1) PREPARING Foop, and 
(2) CLrEarrING Away. Each of them has (or should have) 
definite, distinct steps, as we see if we analyze our work 
from the time preparation of food is started to the moment 
when the last dish is washed and laid away. 

The steps in the preparing process are: 


(1) Raw materials taken from storage, refrigerator 
or pantry to 

(2) Preparing surface where they are beaten, mixed, 
or put in condition to place on 

(3) Cooking surface or in cooking device. When fin- 
nished, placed on 

(4) Serving surface (table or tray) on which hot food 
is laid and given final touches b~fore being sent 
to the table. 


. In other words, we (1) CoLLEcT, (2) PREPARE, (3) Cook, 
and (4) SERVE food materials according to these definite 
steps, even with so simple a task as boiling an egg. 

The steps in the clearing away process are: 


(1) Remove soiled dishes and utensils from dining- 
room. 

(2) Stack and scrape them to right of sink. 

(3) Wash, drain and wipe. 

(4) Lay away in respective closets and shelves, 


22 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


In other words, we (1) REMOVE, (2) SCRAPE, (3) WAsH, 
and (4) Lay Away dishes and utensils according to these 
definite steps, in this definite order at every meal. 

It therefore follows that the equipment connected with 
these two processes and their respective chain of steps 
should be arranged in a corresponding order. This prin- 


REFRIG. Door 


WINDOW ABove~\ 


Wao ay 


STACK TABLE 
with GARBAGE 
DisPaa 


a 


— oe we ae — 1 —— 


ey 
DINING ROOM TABLE 


EFFICIENT GROUPING OF KITCHEN EQUIPMENT 
A. Preparing route. B. Clearing away route. 


ciple of arranging and grouping equipment to meet the 
actual order of work is the basis of kitchen efficiency. In 
other words, we cannot leave the placing of the sink, stove, 
doors and cupboards entirely to the architect. The reason 


THE LABOR-SAVING KITCHEN ‘apao 


GROUPING Sy At EQUIPMENT 


The same principle of grouping already applied to the 
fixed equipment (stove, sink, tables, etc.) must also be 
applied to the placing of the small, portable equipment. 
The old idea of keeping pots and pans out of sight, or of 
putting bowls and kitchen china in a separate closet from 
that containing groceries or utensils, is opposed to the effi- 
ciency idea which insists that bowls, pots, and all utensils 
shall. be permanently grouped at the place where they are 
used. Any other plan or arrangement is step-taking and 
labor-wasting. 

Concretely, if the egg-beater, mixing-bowl and nutmeg 
grater are used invariably at the preparing table, then near 
this surface they should be placed or hung. If frying-pans, 
- soup-skimmers and ladles are always needed neaf the stove, 
near the stove they must be grouped. If can-opener, vegeta- 
ble knife and apple corer are always needed near the sink, 
then near the sink they must be hung. Not until a close 
time study is made of the actual number of steps taken in 
each, small kitchen task is it possible to realize the great 
amount of “waste motion” caused by failure to group the 
small equipment. Why walk ten feet across the kitchen to a 
distant pantry for the tea caddy when both the tea-pot and 
tea-caddy can be grouped near the stove where tea is alwavs 
made? Why walk eight feet to a kitchen table and eight 
feet back again for the breadknife which is always needed 
near the breadbox kept on the cabinet across the room? 

Articles should be grouped and placed nearest the sur- 
faces on which they are used. Saucepans which must 
always be filled with water before being carried to the 
stove, belong near the sink to save steps in filling. Supply 
of clean dish-towels belong as near the sink as possible. 
All the distinctive dishwashing accessories and cleansing 
preparations also have their place near the sink. 


VEGETABLE PREPARING TABLE 


Paring directly or scraping dishes into pail underneath saves soiling any 
surface. Note knives, parers, graters, etc., directly above working 
4 surface. (The opening as shown is too large; should be about 
eight inches.) 


THE LABOR-SAVING KITCHEN 33 


TIME Stupy SHOWING SAVING THROUGH CORRECT GROUPING OF 


STUDY t20- I, 


EQUIPMENT 


Walk to storage. 


2. Return from storage with small basket of potatoes, 


and lay on kitchen table. 


. Walk from table to pot-closet for pot. 
. Return from pot-closet to table, on which lay pot. 


Walk from table to pantry drawer for knife. 
Return from pantry with knife. | 
Peel potatoes on table surface. 


. Take pot of potatoes in hand and walk to sink. 
. Wash potatoes and fill pot with water. 


Walk from sink to stove and lay pot on. 


. Walk from stove to table, place refuse in basket. 
. Walk from table to sink with refuse and empty 


same into garbage pail on floor. 


. Take scrub cloth from sink to table, wipe up same. 
. Return with soiled cloth and knife to sink. 

. Wash cloth, hang up. Wash knife. 

. Walk from sink to pantry drawer to replace knife. 
. Walk from pantry drawer to sink to get basket. 

. Take small basket back to storage. 


19. 


Return from storage. 


Time consumed: 5 minutes. 


Srupy 2. I. 
_ 2. Walk to storage, carrying pot, and fill it with 


ON NAW DS 


Walk to shelf adjacent to sink and get pot. 


potatoes. 


. Return from storage, laying pot directly on vege- 


table preparing surface near sink. 


. Pick up knife (from nail above this surface). 

. Pare potatoes directly into pail (soiling no surface). 
. Wash potatoes and fill pet with water. 

. Wash and hang up knife (on nail above sink). 

. Walk with pot and lay on stove. 


Time consumed: less than 2 minutes, not counting actual peeling, 
which would require the same time in each case. 


RESUME: 
Study 1 
2 


TIME REQUIRED NUMBER OF STEPS 
5 minutes Ig steps 
2 minutes 8 steps 


‘ 
€ 
3 
i 
| 
: 


CORNER OF KITCHEN SHOWING GOOD GROUPING 


Note tea-pot and tea-supply, coffee and coffee-pot grouped together, 
so that with one motion they can be lifted down, and cup of tea easily made 


on table adjoining stove. All the small tools, spoons, ete., under the shelf 
are used on this table, mM 


‘HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


II 


PLANS AND METHODS FOR DAILY HOUSEWORK 


one the family may number six or more; in another 

be only three. The location, whether city apartment, 
detached suburban house, or isolated country farm, also 
greatly affects the kind and extent of the housework. The 
house construction itself either increases or lessens the 
amount of work to be done. The hours of meals; whether 
or not there are children or invalids in the family; all these 
factors have a bearing upon the plans and methods of daily 
housework. 

Letters by the hundred come to my desk, all bearing a sim- 
ilar plaint that women like housework, are fond of some 
special branch like cooking or sewing, but that they do not 
seem to be able to “get done” and have any time to them- 
‘selves. In other words, the woman with the small family 
and the woman with the large family have the same prob- 
lem—not how to do any special task, but how to plan and 
work out a schedule of all tasks; how to relate work and 
apportion it so that it shall progress smoothly with as little 
interruption as posstble. 

“My work is so different every day, and there are so many 
separate kinds of tasks that I don’t see how it is possible to 


Copyright 1915, Home Economie Association. 


65 


@ ONDITIONS in no two homes are exactly alike : ‘in 


66 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


make a definite plan of daily work, or a ‘schedule,’ as you 
call it,’”” some women have said. 

But it is just because there are different tasks that a 
schedule is needed. If a woman were doing nothing but the 
same thing without interruption from morning until night, 
there would be no use for a plan of work. There is only 
need of a plan when there are several pieces of varying 
work to be done at different hours with different tools. 
Then it becomes essential to arrange these varying tasks in 
order and on time, so that the worker may proceed with the 
least amount of friction and effort. | 


DaILty TASKS IN ALL HoMEs 


While it may appear that conditions vary greatly in any 
two homes, when we compare all the tasks done daily, we 
see that no matter how large or small the home, or what 
the number in the family, etc., the tasks themselves remain 
constant. 


Datty TASKS WEEKLY oR SPECIAL TASKS 
Cooking and serving of 3 meals Laundry—washing and ironing 
a day Mending or sewing 
_ Dish and pot-washing Thorough cleaning of house 
Bed-making and bedroom care Window, silver or metal cleaning 


Light cleaning of living-room, Special cooking or baking 
stairs, hall, kitchen, bath and Refrigerator, pantry or closet 
porch cleaning 
Marketing and ordering of sup- 
plies 
Every schedule or work-plan has two objects: 
(1) The order of work. 
(2) The time of work. 


The order of work 1s by far the most important, and the 
thing that must be determined first. The reason for so 
much “nerves” and useless effort is solely to be found in the 


lack of order in the work-plan. The time at which a particu- 
ae ee Scie Ste ~ ee me smcctinnpdeniianeiaanianiay 


PLANS AND METHODS 67 


lar task is done ts secondary and can be decided only after 
the order is arranged and provided for. 


PLANNING THE DAILY SCHEDULE 


The first thing to do in making a schedule is to follow the 
principle which other executives follow, namely: use the 
head first, and with pencil and paper write down the few 
absolute conditions around which the schedule must center. 
For instance, the first facts to be set down would be the 
hours of meals, as these must be definite, and on them de- 
pend the cooking and some of the other work. Next, write 
down the order of the regular daily tasks in the way you 
think they will go best in your particular home; whether, 
for example, it will be better to wash all the breakfast 
dishes, straighten the kitchen, and start some cooking for 
lunch, before going upstairs to make the beds; or whether 
to merely put away food and scrape the dishes, proceed to 
making the beds, doing light cleaning, and return to start 
lunch later, doing breakfast and lunch dishes together. What 
is the best order only the individual worker can determine 
for her wndividual case. By watching yourself at work, by 
counting how long one plan of work takes versus a second 
plan, and which of the two seems to save the most inter- 
ruption, most trotting, the best plan can finally be worked 
out. 

In making out the daily schedule, the schedule of weekly 
or special tasks must be considered at the same time, because 
some of the special tasks are done each day. For instance, 
in planning both the cooking and cleaning of Monday or 
Tuesday, we must consider whether or not the laundry is to 
be done on either of these days. Again, in planning the daily 
schedule for Friday or Saturday, we shall have to take into 
account the special thorough cleaning of the house, special 
cooking, etc. In other words, there is no such thing as a true 


78 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


To standardize any task we must study how we do it and 
then see if we cannot tmprove and shorten this former time 
of work. Bed-making, dishwashing, cleaning, especially, are 
purely routine pieces of work and can easily be standard- 
ized. Let us take dishwashing. 


TIME STUDIES OF DISHWASHING 


When we say “dishwashing,” we commonly think of a 
single household task. But when closely analyzed and made 
the subject of a time or motion study, we see that it is com- 
posed of several parts or steps, each with different motions, 
and generally performed with different tools, as follows: — 

(1) Scraping waste from surface of china, agate 
or other kind of dish or utensil. 

(2) Stacking or arranging dishes on surface adja- | 
cent to sink, preparatory to washing. 

(3) Actual washing with water, soap or other 
cleanser, with aid of cloth, mop or other me- 
chanical means. 

(4) Rinsing dishes with clear water. 

(5) Wiping dishes with towel or equivalent drying. 

(6) Laying away dishes on or in respective shelves 
and cupboards. 

The efficiency of the whole process of “dishwashing” can 
be improved only by increasing the efficiency of each step. 

From careful experiments made with dishwashing over a 
period of two months and analysis of each of the six steps 
in the dishwashing process, the following results were 
obtained : 


3 Test A Test B 
Naber, Of? Gishies sb sgwtaee sat ck se celee 50 50 
Scraping and! stacking pele. RR ee 7 minutes 7 minutes 
Washing and @insSing it ines baited eee - sok ye ae TOW hee, 
Wapiti 6 Obie ret ees ee aie a ee ae 13 r: 2 ¥ 
Tayink away i. 24.0 BR BYE? ee 8 f 4 


ce ce 


TOTALAC LIM Be’ Pocus Hates Oe tae awa cl ete 4I 23 


HELPFUL HOUSEHOLD TOOLS IOI 


this article be a permanent investment?” We cannot afford 
to buy tools for temporary use. They should be regarded 
in the light of permanent purchases “whose use will be ex- 
tended over a considerable period of time... Too many 
women buy equipment on a basis of cost only... They look 
at the price without considering how many times the article 
will be used. It is not the cost, but the number of times of 
use, which must be the basis of economical, efficient buying. 

For instance, a woman may see an attractive cherry 
seeder costing only $1.00. The ease with which it removes 
the pits and time it saves influences her to its purchase. 
She will, however, hesitate and pass by a serving tray on 
wheels costing $10.00 which she can just as readily see will 
save her steps in setting and clearing the table, serving 
meals, etc. The reason that she buys the $1.00 device in 
preference to the $10.00 article is not because she cannot 
afford either of them, but because she is wrongly buying on 
a basis of cost only. The cherry seeder may be used only 
tei times during the cherry season and never used the rest 
of the year. The serving tray'will be used three times a 
day every day in the year, and on an investment basis com- 


pares with the cherry seeder as follows: 
First Cost Per 


— 


Cost Use 
« Cherry seeder, used Io times during season..... $ 1.00 $0.10 
Serving tray, used 3 times daily, 365 days...... 10.00 .009 


‘This illustration is used not to disparage the cherry seeder 
or any other good device, but to show that equipment must 
be bought on a basis of the number of times of use, and 
not on the basis of first cost. In other words, the home- 
maker must ask herself, not “How much does it cost?” but 
“How many times will I use it?” 

This investment point of view must be taken especially in 
regard to more expensive equipment like washing machines, 


102 HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


dishwashers, mangles, fireless cookers, and others in which 
the first cost represents considerable money outlay. If her 
family is large and she hears of a good, labor-saving dish- 
washing machine costing $50.00, her attitude must not be 
“Oh I cannot afford $50.00!” She must reason to herself 
something like this: “This dishwasher with care will last a 
minimum of ten years. Allowing 6 percent interest on my 
money, the annual cost of such a washer would be $5.00 
depreciation and $3.00 interest or 15 cents per week or 
about 2 cents per day.” | 

The question of purchase then, resolves itself not into 
whether one can afford $50.00 but whether one can afford 
2 cents a day to reduce the drudgery of dishwashing. This 
is the investment, “long distance’ view which is the only 
really economical one to take in purchasing all tools, no mat- 
ter how small or great their cost. The chief reason why 
women have not still more successfully put their homes on 
a mechanical and labor-saving basis as has long since been 
done by men, is because they have taken the short-sighted 
view and spent most of their money on small, cheap, but 
seldom used articles on a cost basis. 


Toots DEPEND ON FAMILY NEEDS 


The second important question the homemaker must ask 
herself before purchasing equipment is, “Is this tool needed 
in my particular family?’ A tool that would be an excellent 
investment for Family A might be an injudicious and un- 
necessary purchase for Family B. For instance, even so 
very useful a device as a breadmixer might be an unjusti- 
fiable outlay in a small family where bread was made only 
once a week. Similarly, an excellent fireless cooker, no 
matter how worth-while in itself, might be questionable as 
an investment for a family especially fond of broiled meats, 


HELPFUL HOUSEHOLD TOOLS 109 


Coffee, spice and meat grinders. 

Stationary colanders, strainers and mashers. 

Potato parers, fruit corers and parers, slicing devices of 
all kinds. 

Stationary chocolate and cheese graters. 

Stationary nut crackers. 


Dishwashing machine. 
Dishdraining rack. 


DisH WASHING MACHINES 


The results of standardizing dishwashing by hand have 
been given on pages 78 to 80, showing that it is possible to 


FOLDING DISH DRAINER DISH DRAINING TRAY 
(Price $0.75) (Price $1.50) 


reduce the time nearly one-half by substituting rinsing on 
a wire drainer for wiping and arranging shelves adjacent to 
the sink for laying away the dishes. The following tests 
were made with the most prominent portable dishwashing 
machines on the market. 

Both hand tests and tests with four different types of 
mechanical commercial dishwashers were made simul- 
taneously over a considerable period. In each of these 
tests the same number of dishes (50) and silver (50) were 
used at each test. The temperature of the wash water was 
140 degrees with the washers, and 120 degrees with hand 


HOUSEHOLD ENGINEERING 


By CHRISTINE FREDERICK 


Consulting Editor Ladies’ Home Journal 


1. The Labor-Saving Kitchen: Efficient Arrangement of Sink, 
Stoves, Tables, etc.; Grouping Small Equipment to Save Steps and 
Labor; ‘‘Routing’’ Kitchen Work; Making 
the Best of Old Kitchens; Built-in Conveni- 
ences; Lighting, Ventilation, Floor and Wall- 
Coverings; Choice of Utensils; Lists of Equip- 
ment with Prices. 

2. Plans and Methods for Daily House- 
work: How to Make up a Daily Work 
Schedule; Time Studies of Various Tasks; 
What the ‘‘Rest Period’’ Means; Planning 
Work for the Week; Preparing Menus in 
Advance; Adjusting Schedule to Special Conditions, i. e., House 
Arrangement, Number in Family, Children, Hours of Meals, ete. 


3. Helpful Household Tools: How to Buy 
Equipment; Permanent Investment, Construe- 
tion, Shape, Size, ete.; Four Groups of Tools; 
Labor, Time, Step and Fuel-Saving; The 
‘“Fireless’’ Cooker; Kitchen Cabinet, Wheel 
Tray, etc.; Avoid ‘‘Over-buying,’’ ‘‘Sec- 
onds,’’ ete.; Beauty Possible in Choice of 
Utensils; Gas, Electric, Gasolene, Oil, Alcohol 
Devices—Cost and Maintenance; Good Tools, 
Like Good Servants, Must Be Tr eated Wisely. 

4. Methods of Cleaning: Definition of ‘“Standard Practices ’?: 
What Time-Studies of Cleaning Show; What 
is Meant by ‘‘Change of Shift’’; Standard 
Practice for Cleaning Bedrooms, Bathrooms, 
Dining-room, ete.; Absorption vs. Scattering 
of Dust; Improved Cleaning Tools; Import- 
ance of Right Work Dress; a House Closet 
for Keeping Tools in Order. 

5. Food Planning for the Family: The 
High Cost of Cooking; How to Reduce It; 
Meals Suited to the Individuals of the Family; Time and Labor- 
saving Cooking Methods; Menus by the Week; Similar Processes 
and Similar Cooking Methods in the Same 
Meal; Low-Cost Dishes in High-Cost Times; 
Following the ‘‘Balanced Ration.’’ 


6. The Practical Laundry; Methods and 
Tools: Various Types of Washing Machines, 
‘‘Dolly,’’ Vacuum, Cylinder and Oscillating; 
Drying Equipment—Outdoor, Indoor; Ironing 
Stands, Various Types of Flat-Ir ons—Gas, Elee- 
tric, Gasolene, Alcohol; The Efficient Laundry; Methods of Work; 
Clothes Reels, Chutes, ‘Covers, Fasteners, etc. 


SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT IN THE HOME 


A NEW CORRESPONDENCE COURSE 


In Twelve Parts—lIllustrated 


7. Family Financing and Record-Keeping: Importance of 
Knowing How to Prepare Budget; Simple Account-Keeping for the 
Busy Home-Maker; Book or Card Method; Im- : 
mediate, Reliable Records in the Household; Card 
Indexes for the Homemaker; Simple Filing De- 
vices for the Home; New Way of Handling 
Recipes; Importance of Labeling; The ‘‘ Visible’’ 
Index. 


8. Economical Household Purchasing: Woman 
the Purchasing Agent for the Family; Choice of Manufactured 
Goods Places the Responsibility on the Homemaker; Labels, Trade- 
Marks, Adulteration; Large versus Small Quantity Buying; Sizes 
of Cans; Packaged versus Bulk Goods; Relation of Consumer to 
Retailer; How the Homemaker Can Lower the Cost of Living; 
What She Should Know about Advertising; Weights and Measures; 
““Standards of Value’’; Municipal Markets; Parcel Post. 


9. House Planning ‘and Sanitation: The House of Efficiency; 
Country Homes and Conditions; Arrangements Which Mean Easy 
Work; Built-in Fixtures; Closets; Laundry 
and Dust Chutes; Wood and Coal-Boxes; 
Elevator; Icebox, Refrigerating Plans; 
Disposal of Ashes, Refuse and Garbage; 
Radiator Arrangements; Vacuum Systems; 
Sanitary Care; Household Insects; The Fly 
Nuisance. 


10. The Servantless Household: Divi- 
sion of Work; the Children; Outside Help by the Hour, the Laun- 
dress, Children’s Nurse, Student Help, etc.; Co-operative Schemes; 
Vacuum Cleaning, Janitor Service, Laundries; How to Simplify 
Living; Municipal Garbage Collector, etc.; Relative Cost of Con- 
ducting a Servantless Home. 


11. Management of Household Servants: Schedules for the 
Servant; Definite ‘‘Off-Time’’; Wage and Bonus Systems; Daily 
and Weekly Duty; Contracts When Engaging Help; 
‘¢Agencies’’; the ‘‘Mistress’’ Problem; Duties and 
‘“Privileges’’ of Waitress, Cook, ete. 


12. The Homemaker’s Personal Efficiency: House- 
keeping as Difficult as any other Profession; How Effi- 
ciency Can Be Applied to the Home; Not the Task 
Itself, but the Way it is Done Determines Whether it 
is Drudgery or Pleasure; Homemaking as Cultural as 
Teaching or Business, etc.; Inspiration from Men’s 
Work; Man’s share in Efficient Homemaking; Home- 
making as a Paid Profession; The Visiting Housekeeper; Household 
Efficiency Specialists; Books and Bulletins; Index. 


Qu 


The 
Applecroft Idea 


Work, fun, hospitality, more work, fellow- 
ship, out-doors, jrowth, discussion—still 
more joy and still more work. 


The new housekeepin3; science versus 
drudgery; national versus kitchen house- 
keeping; personal development versus 
house slavery. 


The new era for woman: the recognized 
right to equal individuality, in work, 
love and government. 


The new efficiency for all; war with nar- 
rowness, but peace among, men; expansion 
of soul but not of empire; faith in people 
and in effort; faith in future and faith 
in freedom. 


